How Many Died in the Plague That Killed Rabbi Akiva's Students?

There are 4 main sources for the number of Rabbi Akiva's students:

1. Yevamot 62b
2. Ketuvot 63a
3. Nedarim 50a
4. Genesis Rabbah 61:50

The regular printed Talmud texts are somewhat contradictory. Each one states, respectively:

1. 12,000 pairs
2. 24,000
3. 24,000 pairs
4. 12,000

Yevamot and Ketuvot accord with each other, and if "pairs" is taken away from Nedarim (as Mesorat HaShas advises), and added to Genesis Rabbah, everything fits. Thus, the common answer for how many students died in the plague is 24,000. It is a hefty amount, which the Talmud states all died in one period of time, from Passover to Shavuot. A massive destruction to Klal Yisrael from a human perspective, and from a Torah perspective.

The number 24 in the 24,000 does not seem to be arbitrary. As the Talmud relates, Rabbi Akiva in his old age began to study Torah, and quickly picked up students. In his first 12 years, he gained 12,000. In his second 12 years, he gained another 12,000. So one thousand every year. That is no small feat, and testifies to Rabbi Akiva's ability to teach. But it seems a bit too large to be real. It would be fascinating to relate this to how the Bible uses the word "eleph", "thousand", and perhaps both are exaggerating terms for large numbers. I tend toward the symbolism of eleph and aleph, which means teaching. The full sense of teaching was done by Rabbi Akiva.

But some relate this to the 24,000 who died in the biggest plague in the Torah, Baal Pe'or, in Pinchas. The numbers match, so the symbolism is there, plus it creates a parallel of first Temple to second Temple, that of idolatry to that of social disruption.

Interestingly, in the manuscripts, there are even more textual variants. I found two that take out the word "eleph". One in Yevamot and one in Nedarim:

1. YEVAMOT 62b Oxford Opp. 248 (367) אמרו שנים עשר זוג תלמידים היו לו לר' עקיב' מגבת ועד אנטיפרס וכלם מתו בפרק אחד מפני שלא נהגו כבוד זה לזה והיה העולם שמם עד שבא ר' עקיב' אצל רבותינו שבדרום ושנאה להם ר' מאיר ור' יהודה ור' יוסי ור' שמעו' ור' אליעז' בן שמוע הן הן העמידו את השעה תנא כולם מתו מפסח ועד עצרת א"ר חייא בר אבין ואיתימא רב אידי בר אבין כלם מתו במיתה גדולה מאי היא אמ' רב נחמן בר יצחק אסכרא
2. NEDARIM 50a Vatican 110 לבסוף אתא בעשרים וארבע זוגי תלמידי'

The problem is that they don't accord, again. The first says 12 pairs, the second says 24 pairs. But again, we can take away the word "zug" from the second source and everything works out to "just" 24 students in all. Or we could say that the first source means there were 12 pairs, and the second means there were "24 people (who were in pairs)."

This seems to make more sense on the credibility scale, but they are opposed by all the other manuscripts I could find, which means that the more logical explanation is simply someone leaving out the word "eleph" by accident.

Rav Reuven Margoliot, in Nefesh Chaya (his commentary to Shulchan Aruch and nosei kelim), addresses the question of why this took place between Passover and Shavuot specifically. He points to the Talmud Menachot 68b:

יתיב רבי טרפון וקא קשיא ליה מה בין קודם לעומר לקודם שתי הלחם אמר לפניו יהודה בר נחמיה לא אם אמרת קודם לעומר שכן לא הותר מכללו אצל הדיוט תאמר קודם לשתי הלחם שהותר מכללו אצל הדיוט 

שתק רבי טרפון צהבו פניו של רבי יהודה בן נחמיה אמר לו רבי עקיבא יהודה צהבו פניך שהשבת את זקן תמהני אם תאריך ימים אמר רבי יהודה ברבי אלעאי אותו הפרק פרס הפסח היה כשעליתי לעצרת שאלתי אחריו יהודה בן נחמיה היכן הוא ואמרו לי נפטר והלך לו

R. Tarfon was sitting and asked this question: What [is the reason for the difference in law] between [what is offered] before the ‘Omer and [what is offered] before the Two Loaves? Said Yehudah b. Nechemiah before him, No; If you'll say [that what is offered] before the Omer [is invalid], for the prohibition [of the new corn] does not admit of any exception to the private individual, can you really say so [of what is offered] before the Two Loaves, seeing that the prohibition does admit of an exception to the private individual? 

R. Tarfon remained silent, and at once the face of Yehudah b. Nechemiah brightened with joy. Thereupon R. Akiva said to him, 'Yehudah, your face has brightened with joy because you have refuted a sage; I wonder whether you will live long’ — Said R. Yehudah b. Ila'i, ‘This happened a fortnight before the Passover, and when I came up for the ‘Azereth festival I inquired after Yehudah b. Nechemiah and was told that he had passed away’. 

So we see the period of Pesach to Shavuot as a time for the death of those who do not have proper respect for Torah scholars is consistent, particularly when it comes to the students of Rabbi Akiva. Rav Reuven then points to the Mishna Eduyot 2:10

אף הוא היה אומר חמשה דברים של שנים עשר חדש. משפט דור המבול, שנים עשר חדש. משפט איוב, שנים עשר חדש .משפט המצריים, שנים עשר חדש .משפט גוג ומגוג לעתיד לבוא, שנים עשר חדש. משפט רשעים בגיהנם, שנים עשר חדש, שנאמר (ישעיה סו) והיה מדי חדש בחדשו. רבי יוחנן בן נורי אומר, מן הפסח ועד העצרת, שנאמר ומדי שבת בשבתו.

[Rabbi Akiva] also used to say that there are five things that [last] twelve months: The judgment of the generation of the flood, twelve months; The judgment of Job, twelve months; The judgment of the Egyptians, twelve months; The judgment of Gog and Magog in the time to come, twelve months; The judgment of the wicked in hell, twelve months, for it is said, "And it will be from [one] month until the [next appearance of the same] month" (Isaiah 66:23). Rabbi Yohanan the son of Nuri says: From Passover to Atzeret, for it is said, "And from one sabbath until the [next] sabbath" (ibid.).

I'm not entirely sure the connection of this mishnah. Perhaps Rabbi Akiva's students were judged between Passover and Shavuot because they were not wicked, so that was a good time for them to be judged very shortly.